Spectacular Dr Dawg
Member
The kickstarter page says that they have two external development teams lined up so they might be doing both at the same time in that case.
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Jane Jensen's Pinkerton Road Kickstarter project [Ended, $435K funded]
- Thread starter =GabrielKnight=
- Start date
The kickstarter page says that they have two external development teams lined up so they might be doing both at the same time in that case.
Why so? For 15$ you get a single game, so the 50$ tier really only gives you a benefit if they release at least 3 games during the year (yes, that's still less than 50$, I know).
The design documents are a nice bonus, for sure, but the documents are nothing they could sell either way.
Dog Problems
Banned
I'm disappointed with the rewards but I'll still pledge a decent amount. Hoping for Gray Matter 2.
That's true, I just tend value full design docs for a game as having a pretty solid $$$ value for fans. It's like getting a storyboard book to a film.
significantly
Most of the poor reviews came from places only playing/reviewing the X360 version.
CecilRousso
Member
Bought my copy from Gamersgate. I bit more expensive, but really worth it.
bernardobri
Steve, the dog with no powers that we let hang out with us all for some reason
I dig the idea of the CSG, so I pledged fifties.
Also, Jensen should push Gray Matter for a Steam release already.
Also, Jensen should push Gray Matter for a Steam release already.
I can't remember what the exact reasoning was, but I heard it absolutely wasn't coming to Steam. Sad, I'd buy it again. :<
indigo-cyclops
Member
I totally forgot it was on 360. No doubt PC is miles better. I actually liked the game for the most part, regardless of the shortcomings. It had a really great atmosphere to it.
bernardobri
Steve, the dog with no powers that we let hang out with us all for some reason
Now I wonder if the reasons are something related to publishing rights/royalties or just Valve not giving them the green light (I hope it's the former, since apparently Valve are reconsidering their submission process to be more accesible...)
Spectacular Dr Dawg
Member
Why isn't this getting more attention? I want them to get over 600k so I get 2 games from them 
Call me a pessimist but I have a feeling this isn't going to make it People know game titles not writers and too many kickstarters have spread adventure game fans too thin. All the other kickstarters have big classic names that make it easy to sell "LSL, Wasteland, Shadowrun". This is just some new company no one has ever heard of and a game creator that's not very well known these days. It's a lot closer to the Takedown Kickstarter and that barely managed to make $200k after a ton of last minute publicity.
If this doesn't make 100k in the first day, it seems like a stretch that it will reach 300k unless it gets some major publicity and/or push by other big names in the industry. Which is sad, because at 300k this is one of the most reasonable kickstarters yet (since Jane is putting 300k of her own dough into it).
I feel like Chris Jones' kickstarter will do a lot better, even though it'll still be after people are burnt out on kickstarters simply because at least that one will say NEW TEX MURPHY ADVENTURE. I guarantee that if Jane could have titled this NEW GABRIEL KNIGHT ADVENTURE it would've hit 300k within 2-3 days :|
This thread itself speaks for the public. You have a handful of adventure game fans who know who Jensen is and come in the thread, but most people go "Jane Jensen kickstarter? Who???" and pass by. Without a classic nostalgia game title, they're going to be in trouble This started at the same time as the Shadowrun kickstarter and just look at the disparity. That one is about to hit 200k while this is just hitting 20k. That thread is super active, this thread is like 5 of us.
People know game titles not writers and too many kickstarters have spread adventure game fans too thin. All the other kickstarters have big classic names that make it easy to sell "LSL, Wasteland, Shadowrun". This is just some new company no one has ever heard of and a game creator that's not very well known these days. It's a lot closer to the Takedown Kickstarter and that barely managed to make $200k after a ton of last minute publicity. If this doesn't make 100k in the first day, it seems like a stretch that it will reach 300k unless it gets some major publicity and/or push by other big names in the industry. Which is sad, because at 300k this is one of the most reasonable kickstarters yet (since Jane is putting 300k of her own dough into it).
I feel like Chris Jones' kickstarter will do a lot better, even though it'll still be after people are burnt out on kickstarters simply because at least that one will say NEW TEX MURPHY ADVENTURE. I guarantee that if Jane could have titled this NEW GABRIEL KNIGHT ADVENTURE it would've hit 300k within 2-3 days :|
Why isn't this getting more attention? I want them to get over 600k so I get 2 games from them
This thread itself speaks for the public. You have a handful of adventure game fans who know who Jensen is and come in the thread, but most people go "Jane Jensen kickstarter? Who???" and pass by. Without a classic nostalgia game title, they're going to be in trouble
This started at the same time as the Shadowrun kickstarter and just look at the disparity. That one is about to hit 200k while this is just hitting 20k. That thread is super active, this thread is like 5 of us.Call me a pessimist but I have a feeling this isn't going to make it
If this doesn't make 100k in the first day, it seems like a stretch that it will reach 300k unless it gets some major publicity and/or push by other big names in the industry. Which is sad, because at 300k this is one of the most reasonable kickstarters yet (since Jane is putting 300k of her own dough into it).
I feel like Chris Jones' kickstarter will do a lot better, even though it'll still be after people are burnt out on kickstarters simply because at least that one will say NEW TEX MURPHY ADVENTURE. I guarantee that if Jane could have titled this NEW GABRIEL KNIGHT ADVENTURE it would've hit 300k within 2-3 days :|
This thread itself speaks for the public. You have a handful of adventure game fans who know who Jensen is and come in the thread, but most people go "Jane Jensen kickstarter? Who???" and pass by. Without a classic nostalgia game title, they're going to be in trouble
You are right. But i think Jane have a lot of fans to do it. The main problem is reaching this fans without marketing. When you pull a game name like Wasteland, Shadow Run or Larry, you are making news, because all the main sites will be covering. Jane need to make news, every day. Make a video talking about Gabriel Knight 1, 2, 3, about King Quest 6. I don't know, but Tim Schafer almost did that. Almost Every day he did a update. This is publicity.
It barely made it to 200k in the last hours, had tons of press by the end (even if a lot was negative), and was before people started getting sick of kickstarters. It was also completely revamped halfway through with promotional game art and served a niche which no other game was serving.
This one can still be saved, but it needs some good marketing and the sooner, the better.
Versipellis
Member
Call me a pessimist but I have a feeling this isn't going to make it
I wonder why people seem more interested in funding a remake of a game which already received a similar treatment (LSL1, playable even now), rather than funding a new adventure from a famous author. Ok, Gray Matter might not be on the same quality level as Gabriel Knight, but still...
They have a month and a half to raise the money, I think it's doable.
Because at least they've heard of LSL.
Also I blame the lack of Gray Matter audience (probably like 30k people total have heard of it/played it) entirely on lack of steam release in the US. Was a game that could have done well through word of mouth over time there.
Winnie the Pimp
Member
yup -1 sale from me for not being on Steam!
I understand people are starting to get sick of Kickstarters, but this won't doom this project. I expect the "survival of the fittest" will start to act on kickstarter. Those projects which besides being a great idea have a big name behind them or have something concrete to show, like an early demo, will succeed, the others will fail. I believe this is a project which can easily succeed with help from some good marketing, like you said.
Joseph Merrick
Member
wow. awesome.
I'm in!
edit: will vote for gray matter 2. but the other pitches sound good as well. will be okay with anything they make I think, think so
I'm in!
edit: will vote for gray matter 2. but the other pitches sound good as well. will be okay with anything they make I think, think so
not sure how this is possible? classless morons
It's the same reason why people predicted the kickstarter thing to be a fad. Basically one person sort of starts it and the market gets flooded with kick starters to the point where it crashes (but doesn't go away completely).
It's funny how, not so long ago devs and people alike talked about a user donation model to help funding as a pie in the sky unfeasible idea, and here we are.
It's funny how, not so long ago devs and people alike talked about a user donation model to help funding as a pie in the sky unfeasible idea, and here we are.
Pledged 50$! Hope it all goes well, love Jane, Robert and co <3
I assumed they were joking because Gabriel Knight 3 touched on all subjects present in Da Vinci Code years earlier and Dan Brown became a best seller.
Aurean_Mentat
Member
Well, I can say that this kickstarter is fairly unique for a number of reasons, and I only pledged 16 dollars specifically because I love Jane Jensen, but I have no idea what I'll be getting.
I played all the old Sierra adventure games, but this kickstarter has a few problems:
1) Variable output: You're basically buying all the games that her studio produces in its entirety for one year. That could be 1 game, or 2 games.
2) Uncertainty of product: Of those 1 or 2 games, no one exactly knows what anyone is getting by pledging a set amount (other than supporting Jane Jensen, who I know is awesome)
3) Lack of any big name recognition: Lets face it, this doesn't really have a big name either in terms of creator or license that would draw people in.
I would like to point people out to the Cognition kickstarter, which had Jane Jensen's name attached, which raised $34,000.
Personally, I would much rather give her 30 dollars for Gray Matter 2 and Mobieus. That way, I know exactly what I'm getting, and would feel a lot better giving her that 30 dollars.
The dev diaries and stuff are rather nice, and IMO, do belong at the 50 dollar tier. That, I'm cool with. But the Double Fine Kickstarter you knew (more or less) what you were getting.
With this, you have no idea. Why I think she's not going to raise the $300,000 she's asking for. The two on here that seem to be gaining the most interest is Grey Matter 2, and Mobieus. Where's the 30 dollar option I can give her to get those two specific games?
I played all the old Sierra adventure games, but this kickstarter has a few problems:
1) Variable output: You're basically buying all the games that her studio produces in its entirety for one year. That could be 1 game, or 2 games.
2) Uncertainty of product: Of those 1 or 2 games, no one exactly knows what anyone is getting by pledging a set amount (other than supporting Jane Jensen, who I know is awesome)
3) Lack of any big name recognition: Lets face it, this doesn't really have a big name either in terms of creator or license that would draw people in.
I would like to point people out to the Cognition kickstarter, which had Jane Jensen's name attached, which raised $34,000.
Personally, I would much rather give her 30 dollars for Gray Matter 2 and Mobieus. That way, I know exactly what I'm getting, and would feel a lot better giving her that 30 dollars.
The dev diaries and stuff are rather nice, and IMO, do belong at the 50 dollar tier. That, I'm cool with. But the Double Fine Kickstarter you knew (more or less) what you were getting.
With this, you have no idea. Why I think she's not going to raise the $300,000 she's asking for. The two on here that seem to be gaining the most interest is Grey Matter 2, and Mobieus. Where's the 30 dollar option I can give her to get those two specific games?
It's hard, really. Daedalic, for example, is one of the best publishers of traditional point and click adventures. They have a steady flow of new releases, and most of them are pretty good -- and they are facing problems when it comes to get their games on Steam. They've gone on report that they want their games on Steam, because Steam is responsible for up to 70% of digital sales and without it it's nearly impossible to get your feet on the international markets, but they just can't. Why? Because Steam thinks that "its target audience isn't interested in this kind of game".
It's getting better. Their most recent game will actually be a Steamwork title, and other adventure games such as Gemini Rue found eventually their way to Steam after being rejected initially, but I would bet that dtp was facing very similar problems with Gray Matter and their other games.
Yeah, Steam's anti-foreign-published-adventure game stance has been hard on euro publishers since they are the primary source of modern day adventure gaming. Honestly between this and them rejecting Pinball Arcade, Steam has really been dropping the ball on this issue and it's killing games and their devs.
I love my point and click adventure games and these are all swell developments, but I guess I never expected everyone to come out of the woodwork and jump on the Kickstarter bandwagon so.. eagerly. It's not always the easiest thing to tell who has great games shunned by traditional funding in mind and who is out for a fan cash grab while the iron is hot. It's making me more wary than I would likely be if they weren't all happening in rapid fire succession.
Count me among those that was disappointed by Jensen's Gray Matter, and that game took forever to make. A lot of corners were obviously cut. Can they even finish a new game a year starting from scratch like this? Will they rush something out the door just to make good on their original promise and pave the way for next years fundraising?
I don't really like trying to think like a publisher evaluating a potential investment, but I feel like it's our job to do so if we're going to be putting up our cash towards these ventures, even small amounts. Staying on the sidelines with this one for now, will see how it develops over the coming weeks.
Count me among those that was disappointed by Jensen's Gray Matter, and that game took forever to make. A lot of corners were obviously cut. Can they even finish a new game a year starting from scratch like this? Will they rush something out the door just to make good on their original promise and pave the way for next years fundraising?
I don't really like trying to think like a publisher evaluating a potential investment, but I feel like it's our job to do so if we're going to be putting up our cash towards these ventures, even small amounts. Staying on the sidelines with this one for now, will see how it develops over the coming weeks.
Versipellis
Member
I'm not sure that it counts.
The Silver Lining adventures are considered pretty bad games, and even if you employ Jensen as a consultant (which means everything and nothing) it's still not enough to raise hopes that much. And still they managed to raise 9K more than their set goal, so there has been some sort of "push" anyway.
About number 2, the uncertainty of product: not considering other factors (author's "hotness", novelty, etc.), people funded Schafer's adventure without knowing anything about the game itself (apart from it being a 2D point&click adventure from a legendary former LucasArts boy-genius). At least here we know what kind of direction Jensen is willing to follow.
That said, she really should publish more details about the games in the KS page, instead of just hinting at them in an interview for a gaming site.
Lol. If this gets funded I'm going to bitch about that puzzle on their official forums.
Nope. The Jane Jensen that made Le Serpent Rouge ;-)
DiscoJer
Member
As far as I know, the Da Vinci code stuff first appeared in a best selling non-fiction work in the early 1980s called Holy Blood, Holy Grail.
Indeed, Jane even references it in GK3. But GK3 and Da Vinci Code were both fiction stories and came out around the same time, however only one of them was a huge sucess.
CecilRousso
Member
Yep. A bit suprised to see that no adventure game maker seem to have mentioned this on twitter yet. Dissapointing. They really aren´t asking for that much money, seem to have a solid plan, and it´s in the best interest of every fan of the genre that they reach their goal.
Dog Problems
Banned
I'd love to know what was going through their heads on that one. So damn stupid and it's part of the reason I've never finished the third game.
CecilRousso
Member
According a member on the Adventuregamers.com forums, the press release about the project will go out today, so that will hopefully give it a boost.
Winnie the Pimp
Member
that really doesn't make much sense from Steam's point of view since they DO have a TON of crappy adventure games on there that are probably from US studios, so what, are they just anti euro publishers then? I don't get it!
MightyHedgehog
Member
Can you guys stop depressing yourselves after only a single day of a 45-day KS? They probably picked that length in order to get their word out, fully aware of the fact that they aren't an entry into most gamers' gaming dictionaries. I'm sure it'll happen, once they explain the CSG/season concept a little more...and more importantly, they need to share a little more on the games to get people truly interested in what they're paying for, at a minimum.
In the meantime, I'd think it would help if one or all of ya big JJ fans would do an OT for her past work and why we should be interested in this new stuff.
AndyMoogle
Member
Shadowrun is awesome, and it has plenty of fans. Now we are finally getting the Shadowrun RPG we've wanted for many years.
I hope you don't think that the Shadowrun FPS on 360/PC is all that Shadowrun is.
Versipellis
Member
When speaking about GK3 lack of polish, they usually bring up issues with tight pre-launch schedules. Perhaps this part of the puzzle was overlooked during testing and made the cut. Not that I trust this explanation. I think they should have kept just the part where Gabriel has to steal Mosley's ID and call it a day.
There's a good postmortem article about GK3 on Gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131536/postmortem_sierra_studios_.php
It seems the game was really in a development hell due to bad tools. That's why Mosely ended up with so short arms. :lol
I'm amazed that even though there were so many problems with the engine, I can still consider the game's interfaces as one of the best among 3D point & click adventure games. Being able to freely move around the location, with no constraints at all, was great.
It seems the game was really in a development hell due to bad tools. That's why Mosely ended up with so short arms. :lol
I'm amazed that even though there were so many problems with the engine, I can still consider the game's interfaces as one of the best among 3D point & click adventure games. Being able to freely move around the location, with no constraints at all, was great.